At last: a new pavilion for Venice

Simon Mordant and his wife Catriona have pledged $1 million towards the $4 million to $6 million cost of building a new Aust­ralian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, possibly as early as 2015.

The Australia Council, which owns the pavilion and the land it occupies, announced plans for a new structure in Venice yesterday at the opening of the 54th Biennale, at which Australia will be represented by
Hany Armanious
.

The new pavilion will replace the much-criticised
Philip Cox
temporary structure erected in 1988. An earlier press release was amended yesterday to say the pavilion had been built “as a temporary structure – an artistic statement reflecting the nature of Australia at the time". While momentum for a change has been building, cost estimates have substantially exceeded the initial $4 million to $6 million figure the Australia Council put on the new pavilion. Those costs would, however, be “fully scoped", the Australia Council said, and raised privately.

“We felt the time had come, given our passion for the Venice Biennale, the importance of Aust­ralia’s representation, and the fact that Australia was the last country granted permission to build a pavilion in the Biennale Gardens," said Mr Mordant, commissioner for the 2013 Venice Biennale, chairman of Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art and a member of the Tate International Council.

“Eighty-nine countries exhibit but there are only 29 in the central gardens, the rest are scattered about."

Mr Mordant said 2015 was a hoped-for, rather than firm, date. “It’s a complicated process to build in Italy, and more complicated to build in Venice, and more complicated still to build in the gardens in Venice," he said.

“Given the popularity of the Venice Biennale and the huge support it has had from Australians, and the relatively modest scale of the project, I would hope the fund-raising will be the easiest part of this exercise."

Janet Holmes à Court has already reported said she would consider putting money into the project, with further fundraising chats expected to take place with wealthy Australian art lovers currently thronging the Biennale.